Fostering Responsible Innovation in AI

The use of Generative AI in various industries is becoming increasingly popular, and it's essential to engage in discussions about its potential impact. However, these discussions can be complicated and adopting frameworks that encourage dialogue becomes critical. These frameworks, such as the AREA model (Anticipate, Reflect, Engage, Act), are crucial in guiding Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). They help stakeholders envision and evaluate the impact of emerging technologies, ensuring that advancements align with ethical standards and sustainable practices, essential for fostering a more thoughtful and accountable technological future.

Our paper, "Ethics by Design: Responsible Research and Innovation for AI in the Food Sector," presents a multidisciplinary approach to exploring ethical complexities in AI's use within the food supply chain, incorporating the significance of the AREA framework that was adapted by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to emphasise the societal, ethical, and sustainability aspects of research and innovation.

As part of the working group, we collaborated with academia and industry participants, our project involved various design methods such as speculative scenario development, creation of design fiction objects, and ethical assessment using the Moral-IT card tool. We used these methods to facilitate discussion from anticipating, reflecting, engaging, and acting on AI's ethical implications in food data sharing and decision-making. The core content of the article focuses on building a fictional world to understand and navigate potential ethical challenges, thereby contributing to responsible innovation in AI applications in the food sector. Few scenarios across the food supply chain were created such as the minutes of a fictional Food Data Foundation Council Governance, Wireframes and screenshots of a mobile application called ALLERT to allow users to track allergens, a short video clip from a documentary highlighting stakeholders’ views of the consequences of a false alert arising from the data trust system and smart packaging where information concerning allergens and other issues is presented to the consumer via a small information screen updated continuously via the internet.

The paper illustrates the practical application of RRI through a multidisciplinary approach involving various fields such as food systems, design, ethics, and computer science. Our experience using design methods to create and examine potential futures of technology, particularly an autonomous food allergen tracking system, enables the team and participants to develop a deeper understanding of possible impacts, benefits, and harms, thereby guiding ethical and responsible innovation.

Our work has inspired new projects, and we have already used a similar approach to explore the ethical implications of using technology in the context of the Fashion Supply Chain so more to come on this soon!

Open access to the full paper is available:

Craigon, P., Sacks, J., Brewer, S., Frey, J., Gutierrez, A., Jacobs, N., Kanza, s., Manning, L., Munday, S., Wintour, A. and Pearson, S. (2023) Ethics by Design: Responsible Research & Innovation for AI in the Food Sector. Journal of Responsible Technology, Volume 13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrt.2022.100051